Latest News on Composting Banknote Waste

Biobanknote, developer of solutions for repurposing end of life banknotes (see CN February 2023) and the Banco Central de Reserva del Perú have recently conducted a composting test with the waste from banknotes withdrawn from circulation at the Control Ambiental plant, a subsidiary of Biobanknote located 60 km from Lima. Banknotes in Peru are printed on cotton paper, and waste is currently sent to landfill.

The test involved a quantity of 5.9 tonnes of briquettes and lasted for 12 weeks, with the resulting compost meeting production standards in Peru, as well as international standards.

The process began with the mandatory characterisation of the briquettes and relevant laboratory analyses, followed by strict weekly monitoring to verify the material’s behaviour in the organic compost piles. At the end of the process, in week 13, samples of the finished product were taken to determine the physical-chemical qualities in the laboratory. It was found that the product meets all the conditions and is suitable for use, accompanied by the respective quality certificates.

Biobanknote’s work found that the waste banknotes in Peru are suitable for composting through open organic treatment. The Banco Central de Perú will now verify the quality of the fertilizer to confirm that it has met the required conditions to be used as a high-quality soil amendment.

Results from Pakistan

Meanwhile, Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC) is pushing ahead on its work on co-composting banknote waste paper with animal manure. It produces c. 4 billion banknotes per year and shreds 1-1.5 tonnes of paper waste daily. In line with its corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals, it initiated the Banknote Waste Paper Composting Project in 2021 (see CN November 2021).

Tests showed that banknote paper waste generates compost with essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium for soil replenishment. Sunflower seeds treated with 1% banknote compost had significantly increased height, leaves and roots, while physiochemical analysis confirmed that the compost had no adverse impact on the environment (with heavy metals, salmonella and faecal coliform levels all within or below limits set by international organisations for good quality compost).

According to PSPC, composting reduces greenhouse gas emissions by limiting methane production, generating 0.59 tonnes less CO2 per tonne of banknote waste than by burning. PSPC is reducing emissions by 320 tonnes annually through this technique, and expects an annual profit of $50-70,000 from its compost production.

In addition to disposing of its own paper waste, PSPC has also trialled disposing of shredded waste from unfit banknotes withdrawn from circulation. Approximately 21.5 tonnes of material need to be disposed of each day, and PSPC is confident that its composting approach can be scaled up to accommodate the quantity of this material needing disposal too.